White Pine Pictures executive Andrew Munger has re-launched his outfit Ultramagnetic Productions with a slate of drama and documentary projects.
Munger first operated Ultramagnetic Productions from 1997 to 2004, producing non-fiction projects including “Walmart Nation,” “Campaign: The Making of a Candidate,” “Xanadu: In Search of Domestic Perfection” and “Make Some Noise!” for networks such as the CBC, Discovery, History and Life/Slice. He shuttered the company in 2005 to run television production at World Vision, Canada’s largest non-profit organization, before moving to Toronto’s White Pine Pictures in 2014.
After eight years, Munger is stepping down from his role as director of unscripted development at White Pine in order to restart Ultramagnetic.
However, he will continue as an executive producer on several key White Pine feature documentaries, including “Buffy Sainte Marie: Carry It On” (Bell/PBS) and “The Con: Churchill and Roosevelt Secret American War” (Super Channel/Wnet/Arte/Beyond Rights). The latter...
Munger first operated Ultramagnetic Productions from 1997 to 2004, producing non-fiction projects including “Walmart Nation,” “Campaign: The Making of a Candidate,” “Xanadu: In Search of Domestic Perfection” and “Make Some Noise!” for networks such as the CBC, Discovery, History and Life/Slice. He shuttered the company in 2005 to run television production at World Vision, Canada’s largest non-profit organization, before moving to Toronto’s White Pine Pictures in 2014.
After eight years, Munger is stepping down from his role as director of unscripted development at White Pine in order to restart Ultramagnetic.
However, he will continue as an executive producer on several key White Pine feature documentaries, including “Buffy Sainte Marie: Carry It On” (Bell/PBS) and “The Con: Churchill and Roosevelt Secret American War” (Super Channel/Wnet/Arte/Beyond Rights). The latter...
- 6/23/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Walt Whitman, on the 100th anniversary of his death, is celebrated in Hemdale's "Beautiful Dreamers, '' a vibrant, if somewhat dewey account of the free-spirited poet's encounter with one of his era's most repressive, anti-human establishments -- the medical profession.
While certain to stimulate the countercultural juices of the aging '60s flower children who embraced Whitman's writings during that cataclysmic period, "Beautiful Dreamers'' will likely find its most hospitable venue as a PBS special or a cablecast.
This 1880s-set dramatic distillation of Walt Whitman's poetry and way of life -- the celebration of one's emotions over rational thought processes -- centers around his friendship with Dr. Maurice Bucke (Colm Feore), the superintendent of the London Asylum for the Insane in London, Ontario, whose opposition to the accepted medical practices of the day -- electroshock, corporal punishment, physical constraints -- attracted Whitman's support. Whitman himself had a brother who was a "loon'' and his playful, loving treatment of his sibling, Dr. Bucke observed, transcended the "scientific'' medical dogma of the day.
While the conflict over medical practices is the film's dramatic focus, screenwriter-director John Kent Harrison sagely uses it as a wellspring for a wider look at Whitman, the man and his works. In movie terms, "Beautiful Dreamers'' is a fish-out-of-water story as the unpretentious Whitman, with his atheistic views and free-love philosophy, is plocked down amid the stolid pillars of proper society: the clergy, the media, the medical profession, the women who tea -- there's not a lot of sympathy for the bearded free-thinker in proper London society. Except Accept in their deepest hearts.
Unfortunately, "Beautiful Dreamers'' wafts off into the soppy, hot-air reaches of traditional movie-ending uplift. Yet, until that forced ascendance, it's a plucky and true tug at the heartstrings. Credit Rip Torn with his crusty, kind countenance as Whitman for much of the film's subtle strength and credit Harrison for his supple blend of the film's outstanding technical contributors: cinematographer Francois Protat's rich, luminous photography and composer Lawrence Shragge's reedy, full score respectfully convey the work and ascendant spirit of Whitman.
BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS
Hemdale
A Michael Maclear Production
Produced by Stairway Films Inc. in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada
Producers Michael Maclear, Martin Walters
Screenwriter-director John Kent Harrison
Executive producer Stephen J. Roth
Executive producer for the NFB Colin Neale
Co-producer Sally Bochner
Costume designer Ruth Secord
Music Lawrence Shragge
Editor Ron Wisman
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Dr. Maurice Bucke Colm Feore
Walt Whitman Rip Torn
Jessie Bucke Wendel Meldrum
Mollie Jessop Sheila McCarthy
Rev. Haines Colin Fox
Dr. Lett David Gardner
Leonard Tom McCamus
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
While certain to stimulate the countercultural juices of the aging '60s flower children who embraced Whitman's writings during that cataclysmic period, "Beautiful Dreamers'' will likely find its most hospitable venue as a PBS special or a cablecast.
This 1880s-set dramatic distillation of Walt Whitman's poetry and way of life -- the celebration of one's emotions over rational thought processes -- centers around his friendship with Dr. Maurice Bucke (Colm Feore), the superintendent of the London Asylum for the Insane in London, Ontario, whose opposition to the accepted medical practices of the day -- electroshock, corporal punishment, physical constraints -- attracted Whitman's support. Whitman himself had a brother who was a "loon'' and his playful, loving treatment of his sibling, Dr. Bucke observed, transcended the "scientific'' medical dogma of the day.
While the conflict over medical practices is the film's dramatic focus, screenwriter-director John Kent Harrison sagely uses it as a wellspring for a wider look at Whitman, the man and his works. In movie terms, "Beautiful Dreamers'' is a fish-out-of-water story as the unpretentious Whitman, with his atheistic views and free-love philosophy, is plocked down amid the stolid pillars of proper society: the clergy, the media, the medical profession, the women who tea -- there's not a lot of sympathy for the bearded free-thinker in proper London society. Except Accept in their deepest hearts.
Unfortunately, "Beautiful Dreamers'' wafts off into the soppy, hot-air reaches of traditional movie-ending uplift. Yet, until that forced ascendance, it's a plucky and true tug at the heartstrings. Credit Rip Torn with his crusty, kind countenance as Whitman for much of the film's subtle strength and credit Harrison for his supple blend of the film's outstanding technical contributors: cinematographer Francois Protat's rich, luminous photography and composer Lawrence Shragge's reedy, full score respectfully convey the work and ascendant spirit of Whitman.
BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS
Hemdale
A Michael Maclear Production
Produced by Stairway Films Inc. in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada
Producers Michael Maclear, Martin Walters
Screenwriter-director John Kent Harrison
Executive producer Stephen J. Roth
Executive producer for the NFB Colin Neale
Co-producer Sally Bochner
Costume designer Ruth Secord
Music Lawrence Shragge
Editor Ron Wisman
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Dr. Maurice Bucke Colm Feore
Walt Whitman Rip Torn
Jessie Bucke Wendel Meldrum
Mollie Jessop Sheila McCarthy
Rev. Haines Colin Fox
Dr. Lett David Gardner
Leonard Tom McCamus
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
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